Secret Cupid
by Aria6
Summary: Starrk and Lilinette's souls have been purified. Life is good and they're very happy so they decide to help the people who helped them... by forcing hidden feelings into the open. Let Operation Cupid begin! Shunsui/Juushiro and a bit of Starrk/Adult-Lilinette. Enjoy!


"Are you sure this is a good idea Starrk?" The beautiful young woman said. She was wearing nothing but a slinky piece of dark green negligee. It went with her sun-kissed skin very well. A tiny emerald on a golden chain sat between full, heavy breasts.

"Not at all." Her companion said easily. He was every bit as striking as the young beauty, in a completely different way. He was dark and handsome, tall with sensitive eyes and a captivating smile. Young women flocked to him, but he had eyes only for the one by his side. Men also found him captivating and while it was rare, they had occasionally brought another man into their relationship. Never a woman, though. Starrk thought none of them could match his Lilinette and she had no interest in her own gender. "In fact, I think we're probably a pair of idiots." That made her laugh, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "But you felt what I did and we really do owe them a great deal."

"We owe them a lot." Lilinette admitted as she reached for her wineglass. Starrk watched her with a small smile as she savored the vintage. It wasn't the finest out there, but it was very good and they could afford it.

It had been five years since the end of the Winter War. In the battle, their souls had been purified. Starrk knew Kyoraku likely hadn't been thinking of that when he'd slain the arrancar he was facing. But it was what had happened and some trick of fate, or possibly the state of their souls, had left them remembering everything. Most people would have thought that would lead them to thirst for revenge, but most people were idiots. A few moments of pain and now they had everything they had always wanted.

Life in the Rukongai had been good to the purified souls. Starrk had a natural knack for shunpo and he'd quickly found a sword. Life as a sword for hire wasn't what he was looking for, though. With Lilinette by his side he'd broken out his artistic talent and set to finding a place. That had been going rather poorly when they'd both stumbled over the best of good fortune.

Most people in the Rukongai would have passed over that battered old manuscript in the second hand shop. But Starrk liked books, the older the better, and he'd happened to pick it up. As he had his hands had tingled and he'd known he was holding an object of power. He'd bought it and brought it home so they could study it together. The faded words held the secrets of some very powerful kido. How it had ended up in the Rukongai was beyond him, but Lilinette had mastered the spells contained therein. Although it had been extremely difficult. They didn't know it, but she had essentially learned to run before learning to crawl. The lowest spell in that fragmented book had been level thirty and it had been full of forbidden kido. It had ended up in the Rukongai by mistake, when it was meant to be destroyed.

Starrk and Lilinette knew nothing of that. They just knew they had a wonderful black book of tricks. One of them was an enchantment designed to catch the attention of a listener and interest them in whatever the kido wielder was saying. It was up to the kido user to sell it past that point, but for a struggling artist, getting a foot in the door was critical. That little kido had let him convince a few people to feature his work in their galleries, in the high class part of the Rukongai. That wouldn't have helped if his work was garbage but Starrk was talented. His pictures were selling well now, and they were also using their other talent… dancing. At first it had just been a hobby but now they were so good that they were actually hiring out their skills to various parties.

So all in all, they were very happy with their lives in the Rukongai. They had met so many wonderful people, made friends the like of which they'd never had in Los Noches. By purifying their souls, Kyoraku Shunsui had given them everything Aizen had promised and failed to deliver. It was a bit bemusing to the former arrancar, but they were grateful. Grateful enough to thank him in a concrete way. Of course, the two taichou involved might not be very happy about it at first. But they would be thankful, in the end.

"Okay. Let's begin Operation Cupid!" Lilinette giggled, her breasts bouncing as she jumped to her feet. She was a tiny woman, barely reaching the middle of Starrk's chest. It always tempted him to pat her on the head, but when he did she tended to hit him.

"Yes, let's." Starrk agreed, going to the table where their kido supplies were set up. As he went, Lilinette followed and ran a hand up his bare back. Starrk shivered a bit at the contact. He was wearing only smoky grey harem pants. They had designs on each others' bodies after this. Starrk deliberately concentrated on what he intended to do to her with his tongue, and smiled as she shivered.

"Ooohh, stop or we'll never get this done." She breathed and he laughed, but desisted from teasing her. They were still connected, both mentally and in reiatsu. That had one very sad consequence – Lilinette could not bear his child, her body recognized his reiatsu as already part of her and refused to bond with it – but many wonderful side effects to counterbalance. One of them was their ability to share their thoughts. They were separate people but deeply connected on all levels.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the bravest – ow!" Starrk winced as a small hand slapped his shoulder. "Sorry."

"It's not even on the wall. Stop being a silly billy." Lilinette said affectionately and he smiled. She was right, the large mirror was lying on the table, facing up. "Let's get started."

"Mmm hmm." Starrk stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders as she cast the extremely complicated kido. They had deliberately made it harder than it could have been. The original kido was an unbelievably strong and terribly obvious scrying. If they'd left it as it was, the target would have instantly known he was being watched and probably done something quite unfortunate to their mirror with his reiatsu. Starrk and Lilinette did not want to replace the mirror – flawless black mirrors were not cheap – so Lilinette had devised a cloaking spell. She was an absolute genius at math, and improvising kido seemed to come down to mathematics. Starrk left that to her. He was an idiot when it came to math and not much better at kido. No, his place in this was as a power source. He drew up his power and fed it into his Lilinette in a carefully controlled wave. She harnessed that insane reiryoku, using it to do marvelous things. Separate, they were nearly powerless. Together they were awe inspiring.

So they saw Kyoraku Shunsui sitting at his desk, working on paperwork in a desultory fashion. They waited patiently for him to leave, which really didn't take too long. They both knew from other times watching him that he had zero interest in paperwork and could reliably be counted on to putter about with something else, procrastinating until Ise Nanao finally took it away from him and did it herself. Lilinette giggled as he left and invoked their second kido.

That truly was forbidden kido, warping the bounds of time and space. Starrk and Lilinette didn't know or care. She dropped a piece of paper into the mirror and with unerring precision, it drifted down onto Shunsui's desk. It just barely missed the inkpot, which made Starrk grimace. But it did make it intact. Then they shut down the spell and Lilinette breathed deeply for a moment.

"That takes it out of me." She muttered and Starrk nodded. He felt drained, too, a sign of how incredibly potent the two kido enchantments really were. "Let's do number two tomorrow."

"Excellent idea." He murmured before removing his hands from her shoulders to slide them down her body, feeling her curves. She really had blossomed this last year, filling into her full adult promise. It had taken a while for her to convince him to bed her, but Starrk had fallen in the end. Really, how could he resist the incredible lust she could broadcast at him? Now he wondered why he'd even tried to fight it in the first place. "I love you." He breathed in her ear as she turned around, pulling him down for a kiss.

"I love you too Starrk." She murmured before they came together in an awesome, mind-blowingly passionate kiss. The fact that they could feel each other's bodies as they touched made everything better. During actual sex, it was like a touch of pure bliss. And ultimately, they owed it all to Kyoraku Shunsui.

Hopefully, they could make his life a lot better, too.

* * *

"Hmm hmm hmm." Shunsui hummed to himself as he made himself some tea. He was taking far more time than the humble task required but he was a master procrastinator. Finally finding no more reason to delay, he carried the piping hot beverage back to his desk. "Hmm hmm… hmmm…?" His hum took on a questioning note as he saw the little scrap of paper on the middle of his desk. It looked to be a small fraction of a sheet. Someone had folded it before tearing it, resulting in a neat little line. Frowning, he picked it up.

_How long do you intend to wait?_

Shunsui stared at the small, cryptic message for a moment before turning it over and looking at the other side. There was nothing there. He puzzled over it for a moment before deciding that someone had to be playing a rather stupid trick on him. He dropped the note into the wastebasket and thought no more about it.

* * *

_When will you tell him?_

Juushiro stared at the little note before glancing around, feeling mildly spooked. Who could have gotten into his office and planted this here? The handwriting was none he recognized. It was a very elegant script, flowing and easy to read but also distinctive. He thought he would know it if he'd seen it before.

Rubbing his forehead, he finally did the same thing as Shunsui and tossed it away. But he would remember. They both would remember.

* * *

_If you delay too long, it might be too late._

_Yeah, what are you waiting for old fart? The next ice age?_

Shunsui arched his eyebrows as he scratched his head beneath his hat. The first message was written in the same flowing script as the first. The second, though, looked like a spider had gotten loose in an ink pot and run over the page. He could barely read it.

"How in hell did this get on my desk?" He wondered aloud. "Nanao-chan, did you see anyone came to my desk?" He asked, going to the door and poking his head out the room to where his fukutaichou was hard at work.

"No, Kyoraku taichou." She said, clearly uninterested. Frowning, he examined the note again. It yielded nothing more and for a long moment he tried to puzzle out what it meant. Finally giving up, he put it into his desk drawer.

"This is a very stupid joke." He muttered to himself, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Too late for what?

* * *

_You help everyone but yourself. Sometimes, being generous is only a guise to keep those who would know you at arms' distance._

_Shame on you, old fart! How long have you been farting around anyway? Just kiss him already!_

"Kiss…" Juushiro suddenly blushed and dropped the note like it was red hot. "…" He'd gotten five notes altogether, all of them rather cryptic. But this one… this one made all the others make sense. "Who could know?" He whispered.

Since his day at the Academy, he'd had a crush on Shunsui. For almost nine hundred years, he'd quietly pined after his best friend. And not once, in all that time, had Shunsui so much as looked at him. He had eyes only for the women and Juushiro respected that. He wasn't going to ruin their friendship with a random kiss, no matter what a note said!

Then he frowned as he gazed at the paper. Who could know? No one could. He'd never given the slightest hint of his feelings. This note had to be just a blind stab in the dark. Who did the note writer think he cared for? Snorting to himself, he dropped it into the trash.

It was nothing but garbage.

* * *

"We're not getting through Starrk." Lilinette said with a sigh as she rubbed her forehead. Starrk was lazing on the nearby cushions. Her other half yawned before looking up.

"We'll have to be more explicit." He said after a moment's thought. "It's no wonder they're confused. They couldn't have known about our secondary power." As the Espada of Loneliness, Starrk and Lilinette had always possessed a rather unusual power. They'd been able to sense the deep, hidden longings that others struggled to hide. Not all cravings, though. No, it was oriented completely towards the need for companionship. Much of the time, they sensed nothing. But often enough, when they met someone they could receive a mental image of the person they longed for, often with other impressions attached. Normally that knowledge was useless and slightly creepy, so Starrk and Lilinette just ignored it.

With Juushiro and Shunsui, though, it was different. Their minds were both deeply touched by loneliness and a longing for each other. It seemed utterly absurd to Starrk and Lilinette that two people could be so close, yet so far away. Even when he'd been fighting the two of them, Starrk had been tempted to point out how strange it was. He'd held back because it seemed unmannerly, mentioning it on the battlefield.

"Well, we can worry about it later. C'mon, let's get ready for our gig." Lilinette said, ever the practical one. Starrk nodded and pulled himself off his cushions. They'd been hired to attend a very lovely ball. That wasn't as absurd as it might sound. Their job was to circulate and get the young, shy wallflowers out into the dance floor. They were both very good at it, giving both flattery and assurance in equal measure. They would also dance with the elderly, everyone who wanted a turn but was unlikely to find a partner. It made everyone feel better and kept the party lively. In keeping with their part, they both dressed in elegant formal wear. It was a Western style ball, so Starrk wore a suit as Lilinette wore a rather lovely ball gown in sky blue. Soon they were out the door and thought no more of their targets.

They would see to that a few days later.

* * *

_You love his hair. So beautiful and silky… you have always longed to run your hands through it, see if it is as soft as it looks. Why don't you do it? What is holding you back?_

_You say nice words to the ladies all the time. You scared to say it to a guy? Huh? Is that it? You a coward old fart?_

Shunsui stared at the words, rereading them. They didn't change.

"That's… absurd! I've never…" Then he stopped because, truthfully, he had. He'd wondered about Juushiro's hair. He'd been tempted to ask his friend if he could braid it, just so he could feel it, but he never had. It might have seemed strange. "…Juushiro." He muttered to himself. So that's what these notes were referring to. But who could be doing this? Frowning, he decided to go see Juushiro. Although he left that particular note behind, taking a few of the more innocent ones.

He wasn't going to risk their friendship, no matter what these notes said.

* * *

_You've wondered for so long about what it would be like. His strong arms around you… those grey eyes gazing into yours… would his lips taste like sake? You know, what you want may be waiting for you if you just reach out a hand to take it._

_You know, old fart, have you maybe thought that he feels the same? That he's hiding it by fucking all those girls when he really wants to pound into you?_

"Shut up!" Juushiro said to the paper, his eyes filling with tears. Who was taunting him like this? Who could be so cruel? "He doesn't want me! How could he? I'm not a woman and I'm not well and, and, we're just good friends!" And that was enough. It always had been enough, until someone had started sticking their finger into the pain in his heart. He rubbed his face, brushing away tears. Then his eyes suddenly went wide as a note fluttered out of the air. That was… what kind of kido could do such a thing? He couldn't feel anything! Reaching out a hand he caught the tiny scrap of paper. It looked like someone had scrawled on it very hurriedly.

_A – You're yelling at a piece of paper. Get a grip, old fart._

_B – He's right behind you._

Juushiro turned, feeling a mixture of shock and horror as he met wide grey eyes. For a moment, he felt frozen, unable to move or even think. Then Shunsui was moving and Juushiro gasped as he was suddenly enfolded in warm, familiar arms.

"Juu. The notes. You've been getting them too?" Shunsui's voice was full of some emotion he couldn't place. Juushiro met his eyes and nodded, feeling weak and a little sick. Would his friend hate him for this? But Shunsui was holding him and that felt… wonderful. He was so close. Why was he so close? "…What is holding me back?" Shunsui said musingly and Juushiro opened his mouth to ask what he meant. But then he was silenced with a kiss.

That was the perfect moment in time. The culmination of all his dreams, all his wistful longings, everything he'd wished for for almost nine hundred years. Juushiro sank into the kiss, knowing that he was being ridiculous. Shunsui wasn't like this… but Shunsui was kissing him…

"Oh sweet kami." He whispered as they both came up for air. He felt dazed yet unimaginably good as he looked into warm grey eyes. "…Why did we wait so long?" It seemed completely nonsensical now. They'd both been longing for the same thing and never even known it. Shunsui laughed before kissing him again and Juushiro tangled his hands in that pink kimono, enjoying every moment of it. This was a dream come true.

"We're both idiots." Shunsui murmured in his ear and Juushiro almost giggled. That seemed far too true. "But I think it's time to stop being idiots. Come with me, Juu. The bedroom is waiting." That was exactly the sort of thing Shunsui said to his women friends and it sent a frisson of desire through him, hearing that applied to himself.

"I would love to." Juushiro said breathlessly as Shunsui smiled. His best friend and soon to be lover gripped his hand, showing him the way. He knew the way, of course. But he wouldn't trade that hand holding his for the world.

The notes were left forgotten behind them, unimportant pieces of paper.

* * *

"Lilinette, I think we should stop watching." Starrk said, mildly pained. Not that he had any objection to watching two extremely handsome men having sex with each other, but that was usually something he paid for.

"Shhh! This is getting good." Lilinette muttered, adjusting the mirror in an effort to get the best angle. Starrk frowned and decided to take direct action. He cut his flow of reiatsu to Lilinette. Without his power behind it, the kido failed almost instantly. "Awwww Starrk! You better be planning to make that up to me!"

"I would love to. How would you like it tonight?" He asked with a smile, resting an elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand. "Would you like my cock, my tongue? Anal, perhaps? Or maybe those ropes… would you like to tie me up, Lilinette?" Starrk murmured, infusing his voice with dark need. Lilinette's eyes went wide at the tone as she swallowed. "Would you like to blindfold me and do what you want to me? Make me squirm and whimper as you ravish me…"

"You know, that suddenly sounds really good." Lilinette said before she grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the table. Starrk went with a smile. "I'm gonna ball your brains out. Where's that blindfold again?"

"Right over here." Starrk said, finding the piece of equipment. The rest of the evening was amazing and they didn't think about a pair of shinigami at all. And even when they did, they didn't bother to spy on them again.

They had brought the two together. Their debt was paid.

* * *

A one-shot! Yeah! Although I could do an epilogue. Who wants an epilogue? Review to let me know! I like reviews. ^_^


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